Mission
The Bits to Energy Lab (B2E) combines information technology and behavioral sciences to stimulate energy conservation, efficiency, and sustainability. We develop, implement, and evaluate concepts of consumption feedback, customer engagement, and data analytics – with an emphasis on economically attractive deployment and the ambition to significantly contribute to international research.
The Bits to Energy Lab is a joint research initiative of the ETH Zurich (Chair of Information Management, D-MTEC), Distributed Systems Group (D-INFK), and the University of St. Gallen (Institute of Technology Management, HSG). Our team combines insights from behavioral sciences with information technology.
Exemplary fields of work include:
- Long-term studies on energy saving and customer engagement campaigns with over 4000 participants (research on social norms and social comparisons)
- The development and testing of mobile energy feedback devices for smart grid infrastructures (data analytics and load recognition)
- Studies on smart shower meters to conserve water and heat energy (research on budgeting effects and loss aversion).
Cooperation with partner companies provides the data basis for our research and speeds up the time to market for new products and services. In an ideal case, our work helps our partners to improve customers engagement and realize efficiency gains (aWattgarde), touches new ground in research (eMeter), results in founding spinoff companies (Amphiro), and, last but not least, leads to publications in international journals and conferences.
Founded in 2007 as a successor of the Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Lab (M-Lab), the core team today consists of ten researchers from various fields including technology management, computer science, electrical engineering, psychology, and environmental engineering. 30 additional researchers work in related fields at associated institutes at ETH Zurich and the University of St. Gallen. The Bits to Energy Lab is funded by industry projects and research grants.